Brief Story Line
Set in the near future, a prominent prosecutor Liang Wen Chao (Chang Chen - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Red Cliff etc) was having brain cancer and looking for treatment to prolong his life, together with his pregnant wife, a police detective named Ah Bao (Janine Chang - Detective Chinatown 3, Here to Heart TV series etc). As his health started to deteriorate, Wen Chao decided to focus on the major murder case of a wealthy billionaire named Wang Shi Tung (Samuel Ku).
At first the case seemed to be pretty straight forward with the main suspect Mr. Wang's only son Wang Tian Yu (Lin Hui Min) as witnessed by Shi Tung's second wife Li Yen (Sun An Ke - Master Devil do not Kiss Me TV series etc). However, it further developed into much more complex when Mr. Wang's best friend Dr. Wan (Christopher Lee - Fall in Love at First Kiss, Nie Xiao Qian TV series etc) seemed to know more about the internal trouble of Wang family, including what happened to Mr. Wang's first wife Tang Su Zhen (Zhang Baijia).
With his own internal struggle, could Wen Chao find out the truth before time runs out? Find them all in this surprisingly truly complex mystery movie.
End of Brief Story Line
This movie was pretty unique. In the beginning, we get the standard showing of the murder scene which slowly revealed little by little more information that would keep us guessing on what actually happened. Then there were also the lead characters family struggle, i.e. the brain cancer which took a toll on Wen Chao and Ah Bao. But what totally surprised me was the murder mystery that was totally unpredictable as it involved some elements that I did not foresee in the beginning.
As I said in the brief story line, the movie was set in the near future (you would see the exact year if you pay attention closely during one of the scenes). It probably explained why there was the sci-fi factor that likely could only happen in the future. This is a movie that require your full attention to understand it better and probably need to watch it one more time just to make sure we are clear on the whole story, especially that final scene which made me wonder if it was what I thought had happened.
From the closing credit, I saw that the film was based on the novel "The Soul" written by Bo Jiang. I admired his creativity for writing this story and also applauded the director Cheng Wei Hao who managed to make this such an intriguing movie. From the beginning, I could already sense this would be a dark and gloomy film as the color choice was apparent with grey dominance plus lots of fog shown in the outside surroundings. With duration of > 2 hours, it felt quite heavy especially looking at what the main characters had to face that made me feel sympathy towards them. Oh talking about that closing credit, it did not have any mid or post end credit scene.
The actors and actresses played their roles respectably. Chang Chen showed why he was able to receive multiple awards and nominations through his versatility of playing this character. I think he probably went through extreme body transformation (he really looked like a sick person). Janice Chang was good as well playing this loving, caring wife who would do anything for her husband. But my favorite in here was actually Sun An Ke as she was able to surprise me with her convincing expressions and serious acting in various scenes.
When I watched this on Netflix, the maturity rating was for 18+ due to violence, suicide and self-harm, though I think they missed out as there was a nudity scene. Whatever the reason, this movie was definitely better for the more mature audience with its heavy subject and those attributes, plus some disturbing and pretty graphic scenes. So if you are a fan of heavy mystery drama combined with a little bit of sci-fi, some Chinese beliefs and good acting plus amazing story, then this would be a wonderful option. And do not let the duration scare you as the mystery solving and the surprise plot twist would definitely worth your time. However, if you are not a fan of long and slow pace, mind bending thriller drama movie, then you might not be able to enjoy it. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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